◆ Poster of the Turkish movie "May Blue Sky"
◆ Stills from the French, Italian and Spanish co-production film "Black Tulip"
◆ Stills from the Indian movie "Made in India"
◆ Greek, French and Italian co-production film "Scenery in the Mist"
Tomorrow, the 22nd Shanghai International Film Festival opens.
Because there are good movies, there are people who love movies, and there are encounters between movies and people, every year when Qingmei is cooking wine, the Shanghai International Film Festival opens a feast and invites friends from all over the city, the whole country and the world to share. This year is an important moment for us to usher in the 70th anniversary of New China.
In 1993, with the economic development brought about by the reform and opening up, in order to meet people's demand for film art, Xie Jin, Zhang Ruifang, Wu Yigong and other veteran filmmakers proposed that China should have its own international film festival, and Shanghai, as the birthplace of Chinese cinema, should not give in and have an unshirkable responsibility.
Time gone for 26 years. If the original Shanghai International Film Festival relied on the circle of friends of Xie Jin and others, then today' international film festival, which highlights "China's home and Shanghai temperament" and is committed to deepening "Asia, Chinese, newcomers", has been able to appear in the front row of 15 A-category international film festivals around the world, has been designated by the International Film Producers Association (FIAPF) as the first members of the newly established film festival committee, has forged a closer and closer friendship with the Cannes Film Festival, and has become the light of Asian civilization and the intersection of the "Belt and Road" "A movie festival with style.
The 22nd and 26 years of intensive cultivation have made a qualitative change in the city's film ecology.
The number of entries and participation in the film festival has increased year after year, and this year has received nearly 4,000 works from 112 countries and regions; during the film festival, nearly 300 of the 500 or so works have been screened, almost every day; and in the broader 365 days, there are film festivals in Shanghai Zhouzhou, national exhibitions, famous director exhibitions or theme film festivals under various rich curatorial ideas, all of which are to activate regional cultural exchanges. Enrich the world film landscape to make their own contribution.
The boundaries of the screen have been extending, and the audience's horizons have been constantly broadening - the annual film festival is only 10 days, but the curtain of the carnival always comes earlier than expected, and almost every official announcement of the organizing committee is a unit and a judge, which is enough to stimulate the cheers of fans. On the ticketing day of the film festival, whether you are in Shanghai, the Yangtze River Delta or any place in China, the online simultaneous "faster than hand speed" will become a rally signal for fans at this time. Throughout the year, Shanghai has become the second most visited city in the world and the city in Asia that offers the most advanced movie-going experience.
The three major indexes of internationality, professionalism and benefit are growing, and this film city has become an important engine to promote China's transformation from a film power to a film power - every June, China's most important new films and masterpieces will come here to "hit the list", and thus bring together all the famous artists to start brainstorming on quality upgrading and industrial advancement. As soon as the curtain falls on each Shanghai International Film Festival, newcomers from China, Asia, and the world's small language countries have begun to plan their next appointment, looking forward to finding a suitable position on the six-step ladder provided by Shanghai, from venture capital and short films to the starting line of the Asia New Award or the Golden Jubilee Award, waiting to soar to the sky and be seen by the world in Shanghai.
In the early summer of Shanghai, which blooms for light and shadow, the light of famous masterpieces is naturally dazzling, and the style of niche films will not be easily missed; the "busy and happy" movie-watching state is certainly a portrayal of the fan film crowd, but the film festival penetrates the barriers between ordinary audiences and fan movie crowds, so that the film penetrates into the daily life of the public's aesthetic education, which is the same beautiful result.
Why do we look forward to the opening of the Shanghai International Film Festival year after year? Because on the screen, there are epic poems of famous people in film history, and there are also distant places that ordinary people yearn for; because she not only gathers cultural energy, but also can guide the upgrading of the industry; because she is not only the growth of a film format, but also stimulates more vitality spaces for Shanghai services, Shanghai shopping, and Shanghai manufacturing.
It is in this sense that walking with light and shadow has achieved a golden business card of Shanghai cultural brand.
- Editor